Cincinnati Summit: Abre Proposal

Why and What?

Abre is an open-platform that hosts education apps. Abre helps teachers stay focused on teaching, students on learning, and parents on understanding what is going on the classroom. Technology should make life easier. Abre does.

Abre works really well with the Google ecosystem. Indeed, it’s critical to support the 1:1 Chromebook initiative at Hamilton City School District.

Abre is free and opensource. We’re educators and believe in the power of exploration and tinkering.

Defining the Challenge:

Abre grew from a need. The Hamilton City School District faced a large growth in devices used by students and staff. The complexity of managing various software packages increased. Moreover, many school applications were dated or completely lacking in function. Data frequently was siloed and difficult access and understand. Also, software was expensive.

Developing a Solution:

We decided to use modern web standards to create an open-source platform districts could use to host and create their own apps. The Abre platform runs on a web server and integrates with the most common educational ecosystems like Google, Microsoft, LMSs, and SISs. Abre hosts internal apps that serve particular functions. For example: A book app hosts and deploys Open Education Resources/Textbooks to students. Or an assessment app that hosts and delivers online assessment. Or a student data app that displays all the relevant data points to teachers. Abre is very modular and can be customized to fit a school’s needs.

Evidence of Success:

Hamilton has run Abre for three years. It is the backbone of all district applications: From human resources, to curriculum maps, to parent communications and interactions. We’ve grown successful enough that other districts have implemented Abre as well.